A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to provide a formal explanation for the placement of a tarp and scaffolding covering the façade of the Kennedy Center, after the president's name was removed from the building pursuant to a court order.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper set a deadline of July 31 for the administration to report "the purpose and status of the tarp and scaffolding" now in place at the Washington theater complex. The covering was installed as workers removed former President Trump's name in a predawn operation earlier this month, following Cooper's finding that the administration had unlawfully added the name to the façade in December.
The action to obscure the building's exterior coincided with a lawsuit filed by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, who serves on the Kennedy Center's board. Last month, the same judge ordered the removal of Trump's name from the center's signage and barred plans to close the facility for two years of renovations scheduled to begin on July 4.
Representatives of the White House and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the tarp or the court's directive.
Separately, the Trump administration has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put the district court's order on hold.
In filings before the appeals court, lawyers for Representative Beatty described the covering as a "semi-permanent tarp" that now conceals the name of the late President John F. Kennedy on the center's exterior. Beatty's legal team argued that the obstruction appears to be an effort by the administration "to frustrate the restoration of the status quo as it existed prior to the renaming."
Beatty herself called the obscuring of the façade an "act of petty defiance." The ongoing litigation and the district judge's requirement for a status report leave open the immediate question of the tarp's purpose and whether it will remain in place pending appellate review.
For now, the court-ordered timeline requires the administration to explain the tarp and scaffolding's purpose and current condition by the end of July while the appeals process continues.
Summary
Judge Christopher Cooper has ordered the Trump administration to explain why a tarp and scaffolding were placed over the Kennedy Center's façade following the removal of the former president's name, with a required report due by July 31. The action follows a court decision that the renaming was unlawful and comes amid an ongoing appeal seeking to stay the district court's order.